Novation's Impulse series are a range of professional USB/MIDI controllers. The Impulse 61 has a 61-key precision keyboard and full control surface powered by a brand new version of Novation's Automap control software - Automap 4 (which makes getting hands-on with your DAW/plug-ins fast and simple). Impulse also has 8 back-lit drum pads which can warp arpeggios, roll beats and launch clips in Ableton live.

"Player's" keyboardImpulse has a precision 'players' keyboard. It is semi-weighted with assignable aftertouch and has been designed to feel like an instrument rather than a computer peripheral. In addition to feeling good, it is incredibly accurate - this means it can translate musical expression (how you play the keyboard) extremely effectively. So your performance is reflected exactly by the synth or software instrument you are triggering.

Full control surfaceThe control surface allows you to get hands on control for your DAW and plug-ins. We have worked with all the major DAW and plug-in manufacturers to make sure that you get instant control of your mixer, transport controls and plug-in instruments and effects.

Many MIDI controllers have knobs, faders and buttons, but using them is difficult and time consuming. Impulse (as with all Novation controllers) comes with Automap control software. This gives you instant mapping to the things you need to control, meaning you can make full use of faders, knobs and buttons on Impulse to get hands-on with your music software.

Automap Control Software - instant mixer, transport and plug-in controlAutomap is a piece of software that comes with all Novation controllers. It makes it fast and simple to control your music software with knobs, buttons and faders. It has been used by many top musician/producers since 2006.

Impulse gives you control over the mixer, transport and plug-ins of all major DAWs, as well as plug-in instruments and effects that don't come with your DAW, like Native Instruments, Waves or FXpansion. Automap enables you to see instantly which knobs, faders and buttons are controlling which part of your software. It also makes it easy to quickly change what the knobs are controlling.

See what you are controllingAutomap has a software edit page that looks just like the Impulse control surface. This labels what each knob, fader and button is controlling, because with so many things in your DAW and plug-ins, it is easy to lose track of what is assigned to what. You can hide this window once you are finished with it, so you can continue making music.

Get instant controlImpulse's controls can be used to control your plug-in instruments and effects. When you open a software instrument/effect, the 8 knobs will already be linked to things in it. If you want to control different things, just press the ˜Learn' button, click on the software thing, and wiggle the knob that you want to control it. This way you can get hands on control of exactly what you want almost instantly.

Back-lit drum pads, Ableton Clip Launch, Arpeggiator and Beat Roll:

Impulse has 8 drum pads which are velocity-sensitive - with aftertouch! These are back-lit with 3-colour LEDs which means they can do things other drum pads can't¦

Ableton Live Clip LaunchImpulse comes with Ableton Live Lite included - but if you are already an Ableton user, you will appreciate the power of this. The 8 drum pads can be used to launch clips in Live. The three colours indicate whether a clip is loaded (yellow), playing (green), or recording (red). This makes Impulse the best keyboard for Ableton Live users without exception.

Arpeggiator WarpingImpulse has a built in Arpeggiator which enables you to play a turn any chord into an arpeggio. The drum pads take this a step further by enabling you to warp arpeggios. By switching the 8 pads in or out you can change the rhythm of the arpeggio in real time (this works brilliantly with drums!)You can also change the speed, shape, syncopation and gate time of the arpeggio.

Beat RollDrum pads are great for playing drums! With Beat Roll you can hold on to the pad and create a roll - because the pads are pressure sensitive you can change the volume of the drum as it is rolling, just by pushing down on the pad. This enables some really cool performance tricks!

Works with all major DAWs:

In addition to the major DAWs, Impulse & Automap 4 have been specially designed to give you full control of 3rd party plug-in instruments and effects, like Native Instruments, Waves or FXpansion.

Ableton (Ableton Live Lite comes included with Impulse)- Mixer control (all channels)- Transport control- Clip launch (using Impulse's back-lit drum pads)- Scene launch- Plug-in/Device control (instant control of Ableton's own devices as well as 3rd party VST/AU plug-ins)

Cubase- Mixer control (all channels)- Transport control- Plug-in instrument/effects control (instant control of whatever VST instrument or effect is in focus)Logic- Mixer control (all channels)- Transport control- Plug-in instrument/effects control (instant control of Logic's own plug-ins and 3rd party VST/AU plug-ins)

Pro Tools- Mixer control (all channels)- Transport control- Plug-in instrument/effects control (instant control of Pro Tools' own plug-ins and 3rd party RTAS plug-ins)

Gold Coverage goes above and beyond the manufacturer's warranty to protect your gear from unexpected breakdowns, accidental damage from handling
and failures. This plan covers your product for one, two, three or up to five years from your date of purchase, costs just pennies per day and gives you a
complete "no-worry" solution for protecting your investment.

Gold Coverage Includes:

Unexpected and unintentional spills, drops and cracks

Normal wear and tear

Power surges

Dust, internal heat and humidity

Other plan features include:

For products over $200, No Lemon Policy applies. If it fails for the same defect 3 times, it is replaced on the 4th breakdown. (Does not apply to failures due to drops, spills, and cracks)

For products under $200 experiencing the above failures, a Musician's Friend gift card will be issued for the full price of the product + tax.

So this is my 3rd review on this product. After Musicians Friend came to my rescue, the new unit arrived. I plugged it in and everything is working correctly. This time I did not install Automap. I am creating my own controller setups which is quite easy in my DAW (Sonar X3). I did not update the firmware either. If it is working well, why bother taking another chance on their software? I am very pleased with the unit now. I am giving this a positive recommendation based on the unit as it arrived. The choice to do updates of the firmware or using Automap is risky.

Novation makes 2 up-to date keyboard controllers to date. The Impulse and the SL MKii. The MKii is described as more of a synth keyboard controller and the Impulse is described a more of a players keyboard controller. The tradeoff between them is that the Impulse has traditional pitch and mod wheels and the MKii has a joystick combination device which I've heard some drawbacks about it from some users. What swayed me to the Impulse was that the keys were supposed to be semi-weighted and feel more like a piano keyboard. Neither are weighted keyboards. They are weighted by SPRINGS and they feel like they are spring weighted and NOT piano-like at all. This is my single complaint and I want everyone to be informed about this. All of the other functions and mapping software worked as expected for me.

I got this hoping the keys would be really easy to press but they were just a hair too stiff for me. I don't play keyboard professionally and I have a little finger issue with some fingers so I need a really light action. I really loved this keyboard. Loved the faders, knobs and mod wheel. Easy to turn/move. Just was used to easier keys so I'm off to look for something with very light action.

I'm not horribly familiar with MIDI controllers, but this Automap software that comes with the Impulse 61 does not support Cubase 9. It works when I'm using a specific plugin and I can usually use the auto detect feature to map different knobs, but it doesn't seem to recognize the MIDI channels at all. Their website says that they're currently working on making their automap software work with cubase 9, but on the cubase forums, I've read that people have to tweak various things to even get it to work with Cubase 8. So I'm probably returning this.

I can't speak on the compatibility with other DAWs, but I tried to give this a fair rating instead of simply a 1 star. Overall, it's pretty well built, looks nice, and has a lot of knobs and buttons and keys for the price. Sounds like they're lacking on the software/driver side of things though.

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"message":"Novation&#39;s Impulse series are a range of professional USB/MIDI controllers. The Impulse 61 has a 61-key precision keyboard and full control surface powered by a brand new version of Novation&#39;s Automap control software - Automap 4 (which makes getting hands-on with your DAW/plug-ins fast and simple). Impulse also has 8 back-lit drum pads which can warp arpeggios, roll beats and launch clips in Ableton live.<BR/><BR/><strong>&#34;Player&#39;s&#34; keyboard</strong><BR/>Impulse has a precision &#39;players&#39; keyboard. It is semi-weighted with assignable aftertouch and has been designed to feel like an instrument rather than a computer peripheral. In addition to feeling good, it is incredibly accurate - this means it can translate musical expression (how you play the keyboard) extremely effectively. So your performance is reflected exactly by the synth or software instrument you are triggering.<BR/><BR/><strong>Full control surface</strong><BR/>The control surface allows you to get hands on control for your DAW and plug-ins. We have worked with all the major DAW and plug-in manufacturers to make sure that you get instant control of your mixer, transport controls and plug-in instruments and effects.<BR/><BR/>Many MIDI controllers have knobs, faders and buttons, but using them is difficult and time consuming. Impulse (as with all Novation controllers) comes with Automap control software. This gives you instant mapping to the things you need to control, meaning you can make full use of faders, knobs and buttons on Impulse to get hands-on with your music software.<BR/><BR/><strong>Automap Control Software - instant mixer, transport and plug-in control</strong><BR/>Automap is a piece of software that comes with all Novation controllers. It makes it fast and simple to control your music software with knobs, buttons and faders. It has been used by many top musician/producers since 2006.<BR/><BR/>Impulse gives you control over the mixer, transport and plug-ins of all major DAWs, as well as plug-in instruments and effects that don&#39;t come with your DAW, like Native Instruments, Waves or FXpansion. Automap enables you to see instantly which knobs, faders and buttons are controlling which part of your software. It also makes it easy to quickly change what the knobs are controlling.<BR/><BR/><strong>See what you are controlling</strong><BR/>Automap has a software edit page that looks just like the Impulse control surface. This labels what each knob, fader and button is controlling, because with so many things in your DAW and plug-ins, it is easy to lose track of what is assigned to what. You can hide this window once you are finished with it, so you can continue making music.<BR/><BR/><strong>Get instant control</strong><BR/>Impulse&#39;s controls can be used to control your plug-in instruments and effects. When you open a software instrument/effect, the 8 knobs will already be linked to things in it. If you want to control different things, just press the ˜Learn&#39; button, click on the software thing, and wiggle the knob that you want to control it. This way you can get hands on control of exactly what you want almost instantly.<BR/><BR/><strong>Back-lit drum pads, Ableton Clip Launch, Arpeggiator and Beat Roll</strong>:<BR/><BR/>Impulse has 8 drum pads which are velocity-sensitive - with aftertouch! These are back-lit with 3-colour LEDs which means they can do things other drum pads can&#39;t¦<BR/><BR/><strong>Ableton Live Clip Launch</strong><BR/>Impulse comes with Ableton Live Lite included - but if you are already an Ableton user, you will appreciate the power of this. The 8 drum pads can be used to launch clips in Live. The three colours indicate whether a clip is loaded (yellow), playing (green), or recording (red). This makes Impulse the best keyboard for Ableton Live users without exception.<BR/><BR/><strong>Arpeggiator Warping</strong><BR/>Impulse has a built in Arpeggiator which enables you to play a turn any chord into an arpeggio. The drum pads take this a step further by enabling you to warp arpeggios. By switching the 8 pads in or out you can change the rhythm of the arpeggio in real time (this works brilliantly with drums!)<BR/>You can also change the speed, shape, syncopation and gate time of the arpeggio.<BR/><BR/><strong>Beat Roll</strong><BR/>Drum pads are great for playing drums! With Beat Roll you can hold on to the pad and create a roll - because the pads are pressure sensitive you can change the volume of the drum as it is rolling, just by pushing down on the pad. This enables some really cool performance tricks!<BR/><BR/>Works with all major DAWs:<BR/><BR/>In addition to the major DAWs, Impulse &amp; Automap 4 have been specially designed to give you full control of 3rd party plug-in instruments and effects, like Native Instruments, Waves or FXpansion.<BR/><BR/><strong>Ableton</strong> (Ableton Live Lite comes included with Impulse)<BR/>- Mixer control (all channels)<BR/>- Transport control<BR/>- Clip launch (using Impulse&#39;s back-lit drum pads)<BR/>- Scene launch<BR/>- Plug-in/Device control (instant control of Ableton&#39;s own devices as well as 3rd party VST/AU plug-ins)<BR/><BR/><strong>Cubase</strong><BR/>- Mixer control (all channels)<BR/>- Transport control<BR/>- Plug-in instrument/effects control (instant control of whatever VST instrument or effect is in focus)<BR/><strong><BR/>Logic</strong><BR/>- Mixer control (all channels)<BR/>- Transport control<BR/>- Plug-in instrument/effects control (instant control of Logic&#39;s own plug-ins and 3rd party VST/AU plug-ins)<BR/><BR/><strong>Pro Tools</strong><BR/>- Mixer control (all channels)<BR/>- Transport control<BR/>- Plug-in instrument/effects control (instant control of Pro Tools&#39; own plug-ins and 3rd party RTAS plug-ins)<BR/><BR/><strong>Reason/Record</strong><BR/>- Mixer control (all channels)<BR/>- Transport control<BR/>- Instant control of rack devices (Thor, Dr Octo Rex etc.)<BR/><BR/><strong>Sonar (PC only)</strong><BR/>- Mixer control (all channels)<BR/>- Transport control<BR/>- Plug-in VST instrument/effects control<BR/><BR/>Impulse will also work with other DAWs such as Studio One, Garage Band and FL Studio.",
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